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Book 1 in the Mark of Lycos series

The magic of love lies in the arms of his fiery enemy.

No one likes an arranged marriage, and Fenris, a golden wolf in the Silver Clan, plans to avoid it as long as he can. But the Wolf in the Forest has heard the prayers of another and grants the female her wish.

Unfortunately for Fenris, his destined mate is an alpha in her own right, and an enemy who plans on taking the Silver Clan, and Fenris, apart one bite at a time. Until Fenris bites back.

Amazon

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The Water Thief

It takes a con to expose a con. But this one could strip their secrets bare.

Framed for his twin sister’s murder, Sebastian Swift has been kept drugged in a mental institution since age thirteen, aware of only one horrible fact—every night in his dreams, he drowns.

After a freak storm frees him, Sebastian learns the truth. His guardian, Emrys, has been siphoning off his inherited magical power over the waters of Cantre’r Gwaelod—one gruesome vial at a time. And the man’s bastard son, Macsen, has been raised in his place. Determined to find his twin’s killer, Sebastian assumes her identity.

Macsen Finch isn’t about to give up his guise as the young earl—and not just because of the fortune. His cousin’s return from the dead threatens Macsen’s own efforts to undermine his father’s evil plan. Yet he can’t deny his inexplicable attraction to the impostor.

Acting on their mutual desire puts them both at the mercy of a madman’s wrath. To stop Emrys from stealing his power, Sebastian will have to learn how to use it—and whom he can trust.

Warning: May contain copious exchange of fluids, men in corsets, and dirty dancing. Apply liberally before bedtime.

Available Tuesday, March 15 from the following retailers:

Amazon | ARe | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo | Samhain Publishing

When Bad is Good, and Good is Bad & Favorite #Werewolf/Shifter Stories

I try, but I just can't step on board with the whole, angels are in heaven and demons are in hell train of thought. Werewolves bad--human hunters good. The world revolves in shades of gray, and frankly, I get tired of stereotypes.

I find it much more fun to go against type. Case in point, rooting for Dexter, a serial killer, to keep on truckin' and escape conventional justice while killing bad guys. Lucifer, in a new TV series, is actually a good guy stuck in a horrible job. I like him, and I want him to succeed. So many episodes of Supernatural, where the Alpha or monster or werewolf is killed. And I'm all, "Why does the monster have to die?" sob

I know, I should be over it by now. Bad is bad and good is good. But bad and good are so much more interesting when they switch things up.

Right now I'm into urban fantasy reads and shapeshifters. The whole mate trope thrills me, but what I love most is the fact that werewolves aren't all bad. They're both good and bad. And sometimes, from humanity spring the real monsters.

Take Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series. I've been devouring these books in between projects, and right now I'm done a big, big one. So I plan to reward myself with her newest book, Fire Touched,  just as soon as I can. And Anne Bishop's new Marked in Flesh, another MUST READ on my list. This one is terrific because the werewolves actually EAT people. They aren't human, no matter what they may look like.

Yes, I'm all about the werewolves lately.There's just something about furry creatures that makes me want to know more. Mates at first glance/sniff? Sign me up. Super strength, super speed? Yep. Enhanced senses, pack mentality? Double yes. What's not to love about werewolves and shifters?

I like it even more when, like I said, the humans become the bad guys. Yes, I've also been watching early episodes of Teen Wolf and hating the human hunters, rooting for all the furry friends.

Anyone have any recommendations for werewolf books? I'm hoping to share here.

Some of my favorites:

Cynthia Eden's Bound series
My own Mark of Lycos and Cougar Falls series
Shelly Laurenston's Pack and Pride books
Jennifer Ashley's Shifters Unbound series
Nalini Singh's Psy/Changeling series

What are some of yours?

Don't miss Enemy Red, coming March 15th!

Do I Still Want to Believe?

Let me tell y'all about my relationship with The X-Files.

I was already an SF/F fangirl by the time Mulder and Scully first showed up on our screens in 1993, so I can't exactly say that it was the first show I ever fangirled. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, MacGyver, and Remington Steele all beat The X-Files to that particular punch. But that said, it was arguably the first show I fangirled as an adult out of college, doing double duty with Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman to seize our household's attention that year.

And boy howdy, did our household, the Murkworks, love us some X-Files. We'd happily sing the lyrics we discovered to the theme song ("the X-Files is a show / with music by Mark Snow"), and my housemate Mimi and I in particular totally swooned for Mulder. The first two seasons in particular were amazing, and to this day, a particular plot reveal in second season holds the record (along with a later plot reveal in Babylon 5) for how long a plot point on TV has ever reduced me to amazed, babbling incoherence.

(Season closer of season 2, "Anasazi". When the Smoking Man shows up on a certain doorstep. I boggled for twenty straight minutes over that. It was awesome.)

As we got further into the show, though, it became apparent that no matter how much we wanted there to be an overall plot arc, there wasn't really. The mytharc episodes kept dropping so many tantalizing hints that nevertheless failed to pull together into a cohesive narrative--particularly after the first movie, Fight the Future, which showed up between seasons 5 and 6. Once that movie happened, my household all felt as if the stakes had been upped considerably, and we looked anxiously forward to seeing what would happen next.

Problem was, the show fell back upon the "Monster of the Week" format that had seized its fanbase's attention in the first place. And once David Duchovny started phoning in his role (in some cases, literally, in episodes where Mulder's presence in the plot was only via phone calls to Scully), the show had to scramble again to figure out what the hell it was doing. Mimi and I in particular were very disappointed that Mulder stopped being a main character, and we were particularly annoyed that a major progression in Mulder and Scully's relationship happened off-camera.

Even though we tried to valiantly hang in there during season 8, we finally reluctantly stopped watching. For me, it just wasn't the same without Mulder and Scully as the leads. I don't think we saw any of season 9 at all, aside from coming back to give the finale a look out of a sense of obligation and of wanting closure.

When the second movie came out, Mimi and I went to go see it despite profound misgivings. We were still cranky at the handling of how Mulder and Scully's relationship had progressed, yet we were curious despite ourselves as to how the second movie would pick up with that--not to mention how it'd pick up from what had happened in the season 9 finale.

Suffice to say, that movie was a disappointment.

All of which brings me around to the new season 10 miniseries, which I finally finished watching as of last night. I came into that with much the same sense I approached the second movie: i.e., that I really wanted it to not suck, yet was deeply afraid that it would.

I've been following the recap/review posts put up by both The Mary Sue and Tor.com. And I've gotta say that I'm pretty much on board with what both of these sites have had to say about the miniseries: i.e., that there are moments in it that I've really liked, and that Scully should indeed be Queen of Everything. My favorite moments in these episodes have been followups to Mulder and Scully's established relationship. The scene in which Mulder acts out both sides of many a conversation the two of them have had over the years, while Scully doesn't get a word in and winds up just smiling wryly at him, was delightful.

Taken as a set, though, I have to find the season 10 episodes an incoherent mess. I don't feel like six episodes was enough to progress the mytharc properly. And the Monster of the Week episodes in between the mytharc bookends had too many hamfisted missteps in them for me to enjoy them, for the most part. Worst of all, and I'll say this right out for anyone who hasn't watched the miniseries yet and might want to: the last episode ends on a cliffhanger.

Seriously, Chris Carter? Seriously?

We don't even know whether there's going to be more X-Files at this point. So leaving viewers hanging like that can play as nothing but a cheap ploy to stoke interest and see if FOX can be pressured into letting there be more of the show.

Thing is, I'm not even sure I want more at this point.

In season 10, I've found myself appreciating how Scully has matured as a character. But Mulder has become almost a ridiculous parody of himself, and while this doesn't quite get into "trashing my childhood hero" territory, it does get pretty close. Couple this with season 10's terrible treatment of the transgender character in episode 3 and the Muslim characters in episode 5, and I'm having a hard time mustering any enthusiasm for finding out where this mytharc might go next.

Part of me still wants to believe. But the rest of me isn't sure it can.

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Angela writes as both Angela Korra'ti and Angela Highland, and even references The X-Files in Bone Walker, Book 2 of The Free Court of Seattle. Tell her your opinion of the show in the comments! Or come say hi to her at angelahighland.com, on Facebook, or on Twitter.

How a Contest Critique Set My Story on the Right Course

Before I published my first book, Knight of Runes, I entered a contest not with hopes of winning, which would have been awesome, but rather for feedback. More than anything, I wanted feedback.

I did very well in the contest actually. Well, according to two of the three judges anyway. The swing in the third set of scores was, well that is a blog for another day. Suffice it to say, I placed well but didn’t win. But I did get the feedback. Awesome!

My story is a time travel. Our heroine says the right words, carries the correct talisman, and is standing in the right spot, a constellation of events that transports her back in time 400 years. I set the magic place at Stonehenge.  I know I took some ‘poetic’ license. The great stones now stand protected behind a fence. No longer can visitors walk up and around them.  One judge noted that she lived near some great stones that were older than Stonehenge and there weren’t any barriers. The stones stand proudly amidst the village of Avebury, Wiltshire County in southern England.

Avebury is impressive. While erosion and vandalism, to say nothing of religious persecution, has reduced the henge, it is breathtaking. Like other henges, construction at Avebury started with deforesting the area somewhere about 3700 B.C. Archeologists estimate the actually setting of the stones began about 3000 B.C. when the central Cove, the early part of the Sanctuary, was built. Construction moved outward and lasted for several centuries. The circle covers almost 29 acres with a circumference of almost 1 mile. Concentric circles of stones defined the borders of the circle. These circles are much larger than the more famous Stonehenge. As a matter of fact, Stonehenge would fit into the outer stone circle at Avebury around 130 times.

A large portion of village resides inside the Avebury circle.

The Cove is the area of the henge where Rebeka, my heroine, is drawn into the time portal.  Like the rest of the henge, it’s been a long held belief that the stones represent male and female characteristics. A male scientist must have done this designation as male stones are long and think while the female is short and square. The two surviving primary stones at the Cove are perfect examples.  I thought the Cove the perfect place for Rebeka’s adventure to begin.

To my surprise, my publisher repriced Knight of Runes. It’s now available for $0.99. The sequel to the story, Knight of Rapture is currently $0.99 but only until Tuesday, March 15 when it returns to $3.99.

Knight of Runes

It’s the 21st century, time travel is still an Wellsian fantasy but not for Rebeka Tyler. The renowned renaissance scholar finds herself tossed into the 17th century. While trying to find her way back she discovers the only person who knows the answer but it will cost her dearly, her heart, and if she’s lucky, her future, for she has not been tossed into the past, but returned to where she belongs.

Amazon, BN, iBook, Kobo

Knight of Rapture

The 17^th century warrior knight, Lord Arik, manages his estate well and his people honorably. When his sorceress wife, Rebeka, is tricked into returning to the 21^st century, he spends months trying to find the precise spell to rescue her. But he never expected he would have to fight to keep all he holds dear from being obliterated from history. Must he sacrifice his love for Rebeka in order to keep her safe and secure his family forever?  Or will the great sorceress once again stand by his side enabling them to work together to defeat their greatest enemy, Bran, the dark druid?

Amazon, BN, iBook, Kobo

Visualizing a Character

I'm still working on my very first fantasy novel and one seemingly superficial problem has kept bugging me. The novel has multiple characters and POVs and there are two male love interests. One of them is crystal clear in my head, as are the two female protagonists. But that other love interest kept shifting. I knew he would have darker features, dark eyes, hair and skin, but beyond that he just wouldn't come into focus.

It isn't that I didn't know what he was about as a character. I've done multiple free writes from his POV and sketched out his challenges and his goals, his inner ghosts and his past.

But when I tried to visualize scenes with him, he'd morph as the scene took place, which, needless to say was pretty distracting. I'd picture him in multiple different ways but none of them seemed "right."

I continued trying to write through the problem but I knew at some point I'd really need to get a better visual before I could get really swept away in the scenes and interactions.

This may seem off topic, but bear with me. I just started my third trimester and am expecting a baby in May! Pregnancy has taken a bigger hit on my writing time than I thought it would. But I'm trying to take a positive angle to one bad part of pregnancy: insomnia. Cramping legs, needing to pee all the time, and never being able to get in a comfortable position even with copious pillows all take their toll. That said, it gives you plenty of time to mull your novel over!

And, the other night, I finally "got" him! I could finally see him clearly in my head!

It seems so superficial, but just seeing him now has made me much more excited about tackling scenes and revisions.

Has anything like that happened to you? At what point in your process do you usually know what a character looks like? How important is this to your process?

Darkwood on Sale Now!

Darkwood is on sale for 99c for a few days only.

The excerpt below is from the archives because I'm deep in edits for my next book. 

***

As I thought about the possibility of being married in just over a year, an icy wind blew over my bare toes. That was strange. We were on the south side of the island and inside the cave. This was not a place of icy winds. Not on the last day of summer anyway.

“Did you feel that?” I asked.

“Feel what?” Finn’s voice was husky as his fingers stroked the skin of my belly.

“The wind.”

“There’s no wind tonight.” As he nuzzled my neck, my eyes were drawn to the mouth of the cave.

By the light of a full moon, I saw a dark shape near the place where the waves met the sand. At first I thought it was a trick of the light. Then the dark shape began to move and change. First it appeared to be a huge butterfly, then a billowing sail, then a sinuous curl like the black smoke from a fire. Had one of Matilda’s shadows escaped? No, impossible, I’d seen her pack them away. Perhaps she’d come down here to practice, although why she’d do that I couldn’t imagine.

I wriggled out of Finn’s arms and, after pulling on my clothes, scrambled out of the cave. Half expecting to see Matilda, I glanced up and down the beach, but she was nowhere in sight. I moved closer to the water’s edge, curious to observe this strange shadowy phenomenon. It now appeared more like a lava lamp, with dark blobs expanding and contracting to their own rhythm.

“What is it?” asked Finn, who had also pulled on his clothes before coming to stand beside me. “Something your cousin made?”

“I don’t think so. It doesn’t have enough substance. It’s the sort of thing Matilda might’ve made when she was starting out, before she really knew what she was doing.” I looked up and down the beach again wondering who was playing with shadows, but we were the only ones on the small expanse of sand.

Finn slipped his hand into mine. “Is it dangerous?”

The mention of danger reminded me of Amalina’s prediction, but so far as I could tell the shadow didn’t pose a threat. It was just twisting around at the water’s edge, morphing from cloud-shape to butterfly to lava lamp, and back again.

***

Wannabe witch, Ellie Oxrider, is having the worst week of her life.

First, her aunt has a premonition that Ellie is in danger. Okay her aunt’s predictions aren’t always accurate, but when Ellie is stalked by a faceless shadowy figure, she’s forced to take the warning seriously.

Already on her guard, she’s suspicious about the new guy in town. Saxon Darkwood claims to be an accountant, but he seems to know an awful lot about magic. Could he be the faceless stalker?

Ellie is determined to discover the truth and not even the darkest magic will stop her.

***

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Janni is also the author of the Allegra Fairweather series of humorous paranormal mysteries.

www.janninell.com

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Reference Books

I use Google a lot when I'm researching a story. Google Earth is awesome for seeing a place you haven't visited physically. Of course, it's also a great way to lose hours of your time. But sometimes nothing can replace a physical book.

I actually prefer to look up a paper dictionary and thesaurus rather than electronic copies. For a start, it means I get up to grab the book off the shelf. Moving around is so important in sedentary occupations like writing.

Currently, the top of the low bookcase near my desk holds a dictionary, thesaurus, book of quotations and a dictionary of rhyming terms (from when I thought I'd write poetry). It also has a book on alchemy and another on mythical creatures, plus Debra Dixon's "Goal, Motivation and Conflict", the classic writers' plotting guide.

Tucked away I have books on Oman (I set a djinni and angel story there -- amazing country!), on the Edwardian era, on architecture (a passion) and a history of a defunct local department store. You never know quite how a non-fiction read will prompt a fictional tale. For years I've had a story idea ... what happens when the lights suddenly go out in a giant department store?

A few months ago I read the history of the Black Sea and now I'm wishing there was double the time in my day. I'd love to write a contemporary paranormal series that spins off from the legendary Sarmatians of Polish history and folklore. My nana was Polish, but never told stories of aristocratic people. Our family was poor but honest (well, poor, at any rate). So I could make up Sarmatian tales and magic. I have such a cool idea, but no time! Maybe in 2017...

LOL There I go again, wishing away the year! Nooooo! So much to do still.

Dragon Knight has just released, and Doctor Wolf will be out April 27. 

I'm not able to do half as much non-fiction reading as I'd like at the moment. My publishing schedule this year is wildly ambitious. I fill in the gaps by reading the new book reviews in The Guardian Weekly. But one day ... 

If I was to write a fairytale it would begin: Once upon a time there was a woman who read and read and read while the house cleaned itself and no one in the family had dramas. Meals miraculously made themselves and tidied up afterwards. 

Okay, I'll stop dreaming now!

P.S. Demon Hunter is free today on Amazon. Grab a copy and tell your friends! It has some fab reviews, which makes me very happy.